WPTA Reports Morning Anchor’s Drunk Driving Arrest, Drops Her Bio From Website

By Andrew Gauthier 

As Fort Wayne ABC-affiliate WPTA reported on the drunk driving arrest of morning anchor Mary Collins on Wednesday, the station quietly pulled her bio from its website.

Collins, who has been a fixture on Fort Wayne TV since 1996, was arrested Tuesday afternoon in the parking lot of a Walgreens.  A Walgreens employee reportedly called police after Collins purchased a bottle of wine while smelling strongly of alcohol.

When the police arrived, Collins was driving her Lexus SUV up to the Walgreens pharmacy drive-through window.  Police eventually arrested her and found an open bottle of wine in her car.

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After police took her to lockup, they administered a breathalyzer test and Collins registered a blood alcohol level of 0.14 percent, well above Indiana’s legal limit of 0.08.

Collins, whose legal name is Mary Collins Frank, faces a felony charge.  It’s a felony because Collins was arrested in 2009 and pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of Operating Vehicle While Intoxicated (OWI).

WPTA has not yet commented publicly on Collins’s future at the station.

[WANE, WPTA]

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